09-11-2017, 02:18 PM
Finally got around to reading this. He does a good job setting up his dystopian world. And the alternative technologies give it a sort of steampunk flavor without tired Victorian baggage. Difficult to summarize since it goes between several characters, so go to Amazon for that. There were a couple of false steps though. First he introduces a ghost (hallucination?) shortly before the end, and it just doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Second, he spent too much ink on the sexual degradation of the windup girl. I thought it was sadistic and a bit perverted, and didn't advance the plot any. I think he could have done it better with just one scene of that and the suggestion of more. In the end, I enjoyed it, although it was kind of depressing, but it wasn't as stunning as some people made it out to be when it came out.
the hands that guide me are invisible